Polanski has increased the film's barbaric realism and fills the screen with blood, mud and brooding atmosphere.
Comment
07/02/08
Macbeth (1971)
86
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:19
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: William Shakespeare's immortal play about a Scottish warrior (Jon Finch) whose wife's lust for power transforms him into inhuman monster is given it's rawest, most brutal screen treatment in this... [More]
Starring: Jon Finch, Nicholas Selby, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw
Director: Roman Polanski
Get This Movie
Reviews for Macbeth
Polanski elicited naturalistic understated performances from his actors which bolstered the play's realism while bringing the poetry down to earth. Some would argue he brought it too far down.
07/03/08
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Click to read the article
03/26/09
No review available.
11/14/03
Polanski's movie is the quintessential film version of the Scottish play.
11/07/05
A worthy addition to the Bard's cinematic canon.
07/25/01
An over-the-top bu highly effective adaption of the Shakespeare classic with Polanski's disctinctive touches.
03/25/05
The wide-screen visuals swamp the dialogue, and the thematics have been turned inside out -- but that's what movie adaptations ought to do.
07/03/08
Top CriticPolanski's evident desire to elicit understated, naturalistic performances from his cast also underplays the poetry of the play...
06/24/06
No review available.
06/16/05
No review available.
10/20/04
The film's bear-baiting, barnyard pageantry is less convincing than its clammy locations.
05/04/04
Top CriticClick to read the article
10/18/08
a bloody, rip-roaring good time
08/27/06
Something of a disappointment.
12/06/05
Made shortly after the Sharon Tate murders, there's a disturbing resonance when Macbeth's gang of wild-eyed assassins butchers noble MacDuff's wife and children.
05/07/02
Shakespeare wrote “the play’s the thing,” but it makes an argument that the setting and direction can play just as important a role in dramatizing an adaptation.
06/10/02
Released just two years after Polanski's then pregnant wife was brutally murdered by members of the Manson family, and morbidly preoccupied with violence and cruelty
03/24/06
Forces Shakespeare into the modern terrain of sickly spiralling sensibilities, with blood, lust, and madness at the forefront.
03/16/04
Latest News for Macbeth
August 21, 2008:
EW Lists 11 Movies with a Playboy Connection 
Just in time for The House Bunny's theatrical debut, Entertainment Weekly has compiled a list of 11 notable films with a Playboy connection. Put on your bunny ears! More...
September 29, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Blue" Sinks, "Violence" Kills, "Serenity" Soars
This week at the movies, we have sexy divers ("Into the Blue"), secretive family men ("A History of Violence"), space renegades ("Serenity"),... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
The New Cult Canon
AV Club looks at a beloved cult classic, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.
New Moon Portraits
TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.
Unsexiest Men Alive
Moviefone lists their choices for the least attractive men in Hollywood.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds